Such themes will undoubtedly surface as part of the 25th Annual Athens Human Rights Festival, a two-day celebration that seeks to educate and entertain the masses about life, love and liberty through informative lectures and entertainment.

For nearly a quarter century, the festival has welcomed national guest speakers, as well as local activists, musicians and organizations to help educate people of all ages about issues such as racism, war and women's rights.

Monte Lee Roth and Julie Busking watched "The Fountains" perform as a man descended onto College Avenue in preparation for an evening stunt during the 24th Annual Athens Human Rights Festival in downtown Athens last year.

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Festival volunteer Ed Tant says the annual festival began as a memorial for the deadly Kent State University protests of 1970, when several students died after being shot by National Guardsmen during demonstrations against the Vietnam War.

Over the years, Athens' memoriam of the KSU deaths has evolved into a forum for idea sharing with hopes that human rights will be protected from violence and preserved by government.

Guests such as Jesse Jackson, Millard Farmer and Michael Thurmond have attended past festivals to lend their thoughts and support to the preservation of rights for all people.

This year, the silver anniversary will welcome Hank Thomas, who challenged the South's segregation of interstate bus travel with the Freedom Riders.

Thomas, who now resides in Atlanta, was aboard a bus set afire by a group of pro-segregationists.

''This festival is simply a marketplace of ideas about big issues,'' says Tant, a columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald who has worked as a festival volunteer for 23 years. ''The big three things the festival is known for are the speeches, the music and the information tables set up by organizations.''

Along with Thomas, the Human Rights Festival also will feature a number of local speakers.

Eugene Wilkes, a University of Georgia professor of law, has spoken at the annual festival several times on topics ranging from the preservation of personal liberties to the ''lawlessness of law enforcement.''

''I have a great personal belief in, and support for, human rights,'' Wilkes says of his reasons for participating in the annual festival. ''I'm not aware of any other town in America that has a Human Rights Festival, and I'm happy to live in a community which has (one).''

The two-day forum of ideas also will feature entertainment for children and teenagers, according to Pam Blanchard, organizer of the festival's children's events.

''We want to bring in as many people from the community to celebrate childhood ...'' Blanchard says. ''We're celebrating love on our end, trying to bring entertainment to children of all ages. While (children are) downtown, we want their parents to become educated about some of the more serious, darker issues we face.''

Tant says non-supporters of the two-day festival also have a stake in the festival and are encouraged to come out to exercise their right to free speech.

''If people don't like the festival, we have an open microphone up on both days for them to tell us what we're doing wrong,'' Tant says.